New Year, New Outlook...well, sorta...

When you become a teacher you have these ideas and hopes for how you will change the world.  Your students will learn everything you want them to and they will all get A's because you rock!  What you don't realize is that teaching happens in the real world, with children.  In my case, teenagers.  These aren't just any teens either, they aren't suburban spoiled kids whose parents are overly involved in everything; they aren't even middle class kids that just compliantly go to school everyday; no, these teens live life hard and fast and you are just an inconvenience along their journey.

Sometimes when I get to school I feel as though I walked out of my house and drove straight into a foreign country.  The culture is different the language is different, social communication is different.  There are expectations for these students that very few can ever live up to because they have been passed from grade to grade with no regard as to whether they actually learned anything...

All of this leads me to my fresh outlook.  I love what I do, I love my crazy students but I also know that a lot of what I want them to do is more than they are capable of a this point in theirs lives.  So instead of trying to change the world, I am just going to try to help these students survive the world.  Hopefully I can give them enough tools to make it, to make better choices so they can be productive with their lives.

I am also going to make sure I keep up with this better.  I am out of excuses, I don't have my own school to do anymore so I should have time to regale you with tales of teens and of my oh so very interesting life!